Don't blame Teddy Bridges
by Lara Cox
Summary: Sure, you can blame Teddy Bridges for a lot of things, but when it comes to the leaking of a letter written after his death you should point your finger at somebody else.
1. Stolen letter

**Author's note: **hello! Here I bring you another story… this one is in my mind ever since I watch "First scandal" (my favorite episode EVER!) and now that I've just watched it for like the third time I got inspired to write down my thoughts. This story answer one simply question… Who was the one who leaked the information? And how will Mac react?It takes place in the middle of "First Scandal" and "Rubi Dubidoux and the Brown bound express" … In this story everything what happened before and in "First Scandal" remains the same meaning that Mac already promised Rod giving him an official position in the West Wing but she still haven't decided which one…and she already gave the press conference about the book but Rod is still trying to discover who betrayed Mac by leaking the letter and he is almost obsessed about it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Commander in Chief… please don't sue me.

**Don't blame Teddy Bridges. **

**Chapter 1: **

**Stolen Letter**

**White House. Residential Part. Presidential bedroom. Very late at night. **

Mac was about to get into bed. It had been a long day and she was ready to leave it behind her. But her husband wasn't… Rod was in their bed reading "Stolen Presidency" one more time… all she wanted to do was to burn that book and never see another copy in her entire like. But Rod wouldn't let it go… he was still outraged because of that book, and because of the implications of the book. To him the book meant that someone close to them shouldn't be close to them. One of the people working for his wife had betrayed her, and that was unacceptable to him. Mac got into bed a little frustrated. She wanted her husband to do something that wasn't exactly reading…

Mac- I can't believe you are reading that crap again!

Even the title was insulting to Mac… "Stolen presidency" That had hurt her like hell… but she hadn't show it, of course, she tried to pretend like the book was no big deal.

Rod- honey, I have to see if there is something I missed… maybe a clue, a hint… something about who was the person who send Evan Hutchins the letter…

Mac shook her head… She wanted more than anyone to know who was the person who betrayed her, but that seemed an impossible thing to found out. Who was Evan Hutchins "anonymous Source"? If that wasn't the best-kept Washington Secret, it was surely in the top 5. 

Mac- what do you expect? Do you expect to suddenly discover a note at the bottom of some page that says: "the letter was sent by a black men whose initials are JG"?

Rod looked at Mac with curiosity now… Rod- so… you think it was Jim now? But you have just sent him back his resignation letter… Mac tried to be patient and calmly explained… 

Mac- I think that YOU still think it was Jim, even when I told you he wasn't… and you are still obsessed with the book because you are dieing to prove that he betrayed me…

Rod seemed a little offended by the insinuation…

Rod- I'm not obsessed with the book… 

Mac have him a "Come on!" look.

Mac- Rod, how many times have you read it in the last 48 hours?

Rod- four… what's your point?

Mac- that you are so interested in finding out who leaked the letter because you are wishing with all your heart it were Jim…

Rod was now very offended.

Rod- I'm just really interested in finding out who is the traitor in your administration…

Mac raised her eyebrows and asked a question maliciously… 

Mac- even if the traitor were Kelly?

That caught Rod completely by surprise. What did Kelly had to do with all this.

Rod- what is that supposed to mean?

Mac shook her head… 

Mac- nothing… just forget it…

But Rod wasn't known for letting little things go… 

Rod- honey… Are you jealous of Kelly?

Mackenzie was now embarrassed… she had to admit something…

Mac- well… she is pretty, young and you did tell her about the job in New York before you told me. Plus, I don't like the way she looks at you sometimes…

Rod thought his wife was crazy.

Rod- Come on! That's ridiculous… You are just paranoid!

Mac- and so are you!

Rod- I'm not just paranoid… you do have a traitor in your staff…

Mac knew her husband was completely right. That was why she had refused to pay much attention to the book at first… because it meant that someone stabbed her in the back and it really hurt her to admit that. The idea of one of her closets people betraying her disgusted her.

Mac- ok, but if anyone who knew about the letter if a suspect, then Kelly if a suspect… she wrote it.

Rod reluctantly accepted that but he still thought that his wife was just jealous. 

Rod- ok… but if Kelly is a suspect then so is Vince…

Mac looked at her husband in horror…

Mac- No way! He didn't even wanted Kelly to write the letter…

Rod- hey! if you think Kelly could do it is fair to suspect of Vince too…

Mac rolled her eyes and very reluctantly had to accept that.

Mac- ok, ok… but I think we are skipping the obvious suspect…

Rod- Templeton?

Mac- yes… I mean, he knew Teddy had asked me to resign… and he saw me folding a piece of paper and putting in my pocked… my guess is that he connected the dots, realized what the piece of paper was and then stole it…

Rod considered it for a second… actually he had been so busy hating and blaming Jim that he didn't even considered the most obvious choice.

Rod- it just… it would be too…

Mac- too painfully obvious to be truth?

Rod- exactly… it's weird… but that's how it feels…

Mac thought about it for a few seconds and the she said using a very mystery voice…

Mac- well, honey, in Thrillers usually the killer turns out to be either the person you less expect or the person that seemed so painfully obvious that was the killer that you decided in the first 15 minutes "that can't be the killer".

Rod shook his head and said very seriously… 

Rod- this isn't a Thriller. We are not solving the murder of a half-naked woman with big breast who tried to run away from the killer running upstairs when she should have got the hell out of the house. This is real life…

Mac rolled her eyes for like the hundredth time in the last two days… Mac- I know! I was just teasing you… jeez Rod, you are taking this too seriously… 

Rod- and you are not taking this seriously enough…

Mac was running out of patience. Of course that she took it seriously… but she thought there was no point in obsessing about it because there was no way they could find out who was the source of the leak. She tried to explain it nicely to her husband.

Mac- look honey, I know you mean well, but is impossible to know who is the backstabber… it could have been anyone. I mean, Teddy Bridges himself leaked most of the information.

Rod rolled his eyes… He didn't care about Teddy Bridges so much. When it came to traitors, Rod's priority was catching the alive ones. 

Rod- yes… but there was one thing that Teddy couldn't have possible leaked…

Mac- my resignation letter, I know that.

Rod- Mac… what did you do with that letter after you decided not to resign?

Mac- I already told you! I had it in my hands while I was talking to Nathan Templeton, he was being really annoying, then I decided to became President so I folded the letter and putted it in my pocket… when I went back to our room, ready to have some sleep, I took of my clothes and noticed that it wasn't in my pocket anymore…

When she noticed the letter was missing, she didn't worry too much about it… until two weeks after that, when she found out that a reporter had the letter and was writing a book about it.

Rod- so… it could have fallen out of your pocket in the Vice-Presidential mansion for anyone who was there that night to find it… or maybe someone stole it from your pocket while your were distracted or something…

Mac- I doubt that someone would put a hand in my pocket, hoping to find in it a resignation letter confessing that Teddy had asked me to resign, without me noticing the hand in question…

Rod- you are right… the letter must have jumped out of your pocket alone… that's a very athletic piece of paper you wrote…

Mac didn't appreciated the sarcasm…

Mac- look… chances are someone who knew about the latter waited until I took off the blazer after the swearing and hung it on a chair, and then just stole the letter…

Rod looked at Mac surprised… 

Rod- you took off the your blazer after the swearing!

Mac- I was sweating like a pig! That wasn't very presidential…

It was the first time Rod heard about it and he was shocked.

Rod- you took off your blazer, which contained your resignation letter, and left it just hanging in a chair without watching it? And with Templeton in the room! What's wrong with you?

Mac was now very pissed… all the emotions she had bottled up for the last 48 hours were suddenly right in the surface… 

Mac- well… at that moment I had just became the President and I had a lot in my mind… I'm sorry I didn't think "Jeez, What if someone finds what was going to be my resignation, gives it to Evan Hutchins and he writes a dam book about it saying that I stole the dam Presidency! I better keep an eye on the fucking blazer!"

Mac had now tears in her eyes. Rod simply held her in his arms and kissed his forehead.

Rod- I'm sorry for not discovering who it was… and for being such a pain about all this…

Mac looked at his eyes and felt really happy to have him with her.

Mac- you are not a pain, honey… sure, sometimes you are… but this last couple of days you were amazing… when you found out I was in trouble you stayed in Washington without thinking it twice and got into action to discover that book's many lies… you stood up for me and now you are still trying to found out who hurt me and even when I think you are getting obsessed and annoying, it doesn't matter, I love you even more for that… 

Rod was touched. For the first time since Mackenzie became President, he actually felt important and needed. He felt useful and that was just what he needed… before, when she asked him to stay with her in the way she did it, he had felt over the moon. He kissed her very passionately and only broke the kiss to get some air…

Rod- oh Mac… you have not idea how happy you are making me saying all that… you know how much I love being an overprotective husband and how much I love you… 

He finally left the book in his night table and then kissed Mac again more passionately getting ready for one great night of making love for hours.

**To be continue… **

**Please… read and review!**


	2. You are so gonna need a cup for this

**Author's note: sorry it took me so long! Here is chapter two…. The first scene is from "Rubi Dubidoux and the brown bound express" I needed to use that for the story…. **

**Thanks to those who reviewed! ENJOY! **

**Chapter 2: **

**You are so gonna need a cup for this...**

**OVAL OFFICE. A week before thanksgiving. **

Mac was very worried, pissed off and incredibly frustrated, (as she felt most of the times she tried to reason with Nathan "Bloody hell" Templeton). The speaker was about to reveal that Vince Taylor was gay and had HIV. But now, Mac had something that would definitely teach Nathan a lesson (a video of him being a big racist jackass when he was young)… so, she said, calculating her words perfectly…

Mac- People make mistakes when their younger.

Nathan, not knowing that Mac had the video and assuming she was taking about Vince, said…

Nathan- But if they go into politics, these mistakes can come back to haunt them. You know what they say, it's a contact sport...wear a cup. I don't know...whatever you'd wear...a chest protector or whatever.

Now Mac was ready to throw at Templeton the huge "anvil" she was hiding… and she knew it would fall with all the force of the irony… Mac said with a huge satisfaction…

Mac- You may want to put on a cup for this.

Mac played the videotape with Nathan's racist comments. He became pale, and he actually looked like he was having an stroke when he sit in the couch and yelled with his teeth clinched…

Nathan- ENOUGH! ENOUGH!

Mac, taking pity of him, turned the tape off. Nathan just looked defeated and said…

Nathan- If it was your intention to humiliate me...you have succeeded.

But Mac didn't buy that "innocent victim" act. Nathan was NO deer lost in the woods… he was ready to use a poor man's secret to destroy her… so, if Mac was humiliating him, he totally deserved it. She wasn't going to feel guilty for the hard time he was having… But she explained, honestly…

Mac- I don't believe that tape represents who you are today.

Nathan was outraged by the implication that he was ever a racist… he started making excuses for his actions…

Nathan- It doesn't represent who I ever was. I was a young Southern Democrat saying anything I had to say to get elected. I think that my voting records since those days speaks for itself, but if that were to get out, it would represent who I am. It would BE who I am. But you know that.  
Mac- I doesn't have to, you know.

Nathan got what she meant, and said…

Nathan- Nor does the information about your Special Assistant. In the old days, we used to call this mutual assured destruction.  
Mac- If memory serves, you were a big proponent of that policy.

More irony anvils falling all over Templeton. Mac was beginning to enjoy the conversation…

Nathan- MacNamara's policy as it was. You know, this tape, could cause a hell of a lot more damage to me than the staffing scandal could cast on you. Why hold it back?

Nathan was right about something… That video was terrible for him… it would expose him to the kind of scandal from which people in politics never recover. _"I'm holding it back because I actually have feelings, Nathan, something you seem to know nothing about. And even when destroying people is your favorite hobby… I don't enjoy doing that so much", _Mac thought that, but she chose a more diplomatic answer…

Mac- Maybe I think the Country doesn't need another scandal right now.

That was also true. But Nathan wasn't buying it.

Nathan- Maybe you want to have something to hold over my head.

Mac thought: _"Typical. Just because HE is a bastard, he thinks we all are"_. But, putting aside her feelings for Nathan, she really wanted to stop that pointless war between them. There was no reason for them to be enemies… She said…

Mac- Mr. Speaker, after all that we've been through now, I was hoping we could put aside some of our differences, become friends.

Nathan was shocked. And then he said the smartest and more honest thing Mac had heard him say in months…

Nathan- This is Washington D.C. Madame President. There are no friends here. There are only enemies and allies.

Mac thought about that for a few seconds. Obviously Nathan wanted to be one of those enemies. He started to leave, and then, tried to save what was left of his ego, he said…

Nathan- This will not put me in your pocket, but it will put me in your debt.

Mac actually thought she really had Nathan in her pocket. After all, he obviously would do anything to protect his secret. But she wasn't planning to use that power. It would be cheap… wouldn't it? She decided to follow his game, just for fun, and bluffed…

Mac- I'll call it in sometime.  
Nathan- I don't doubt it.

**Thanksgiving day. White House's residence. **

Mac couldn't take that conversation with Nathan and the video off her head. She had made the decision to do the right thing and give Nathan the video… She told Rod that and she looked at him as she was crazy…

Rod- you are going to do what!

Mac- I'm giving him the tape, Rod. Look… IF I decided to run for the reelection I'd be running against him… and I don't want to beat him just because he was an idiot who tried to impress a bunch of voters saying something stupid that he doesn't even believe… I want to kick his us because I'm a lot better that him…

Rod shook his head. Just giving him the video was a huge mistake that would surely come back to bite the entire administration on the ass…

Rod- you are going to regret it…

Mac was shocked….

Mac- are you actually encouraging me not to be the bigger person?

Rod shook his head and explained, defensibly…

Rod- no! It's just… it really bothers me… you know? He is going to get exactly what he wants. You are going to do him a BIG favor, Mac… and what has he ever done for you? He doesn't deserve getting away with all this…

Mac knew her husband was totally right. Nathan didn't deserve the favor he was about to receive from her.

Mac- I guess you are right about that…

Rod- you bet I'm right! Honey, if he had a damaging video about you, he would use it without thinking it twice… The only doubt in his mind would be: "Do I leak it to the morning news or to the night news?"

Once again, Rod was right… and Mac couldn't respond. Rod continued his point…

Rod- now, I think Nathan didn't leak the letter… but I think that was just because he wasn't the one who found it… If he had found the letter, he wouldn't have just leaked it… He would have written the dam book himself!

Suddenly an idea hit Mac. Yes, she would give back that video… but maybe she could get something in return. And she knew exactly what… She was thrilled with her idea: She would get something she needed and it wouldn't destroy Nathan at all… so it wouldn't make her feel guilty because she wasn't hurting anyone… her plan only involved doing Nathan a favor in return of some information she needed.

**Later that day… **

Mac had a lot of things to take care off that Thanksgiving day. Right before the dinner her mother had been planning, she was on the phone with the Governor of Texas.

Mac- You've made you feeling quite clear. I've taken note of your position, but it doesn't change mine. Tomorrow you will receive my Executive Order commuting Ms. Bodem's sentence to life in prison. I'd like to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving. Good night.

She hung up and turns around, her heart almost stopping when she saw Rod listening to her, and not looking very happy…

Rod: Called the Governor?  
Mac- I had to pardon the National turkey in the Rose Garden this week. It gets to live it's life out on a farm somewhere. Does Linda Bodem deserve any less compassion than a turkey?

Rod could understand that after saying "By the power vested in me by the Constitution of the United States, I hereby pardon you." to a turkey… well, no one could feel like letting a human lady die. He just accepted Mac's decision and said…

Rod- Well, If your gonna go down honey, at least your gonna go down fighting. Now, come on, the Templetons had just arrived…

Mac- ok…

Mac and Rod linked arms and started heading towards the residence entry to greet Nathan and Sarah Templeton. In the way, Rod asked… 

Rod- just out of curiosity… What do the others think about you pardoning Linda?

Mac- well… Jim agrees with me because he thinks they shouldn't have given death penalty to a woman with mental problems in the first place…

Rod nodded… that was true.

Rod- and the other two?

Mac- you mean Scully and Mulder? They think it was the right thing, but they are concerned because it might cost me several votes…

Rod laughed at the nickname Mac had given to the new potential couple in the Allen administration. It suited them perfectly…

Rod- well… Kelly and Dickie are very smart… 

They got to the residence entry and greeted The Speaker and his wife…

Mac- Happy Thanksgiving.  
Nathan- Happy Thanksgiving.

Rod smiled weakly and said politely…

Rod- Welcome Nathan.  
Sarah- I'm Sorry we're a little late.  
Mac- Oh, no you are just in time… Mr. Speaker… could I talk to you privately…

Nathan nodded, truly intrigued and surprised, and he and Mac headed to a different room while Rod escorted Sarah to the dinner room. Nathan and Mac were alone when he said..

Nathan- I watched your Press Conference.  
Mac- You were right. It was the only decision possible.

They were talking about the Exess Base and Mac had to admit that Nathan was right about that. He seemed impressed…

Nathan- You continue to amaze me.

That was her cue…. She could give him the other surprise she had for him.

Mac- hmm, I have something for you. You can consider it an early Christmas gift… 

She handed him a gift-wrapped box and Nathan seemed ashamed…

Nathan: We didn't bring an…. I didn't bring anything.

That couldn't matter less to Mac. She explained…

Mac: I'm giving you the original film and the tape.

Nathan was shocked. He looked at Mac curiously… 

Nathan- who do I have to kill?

Mac laughed. It was incredibly fun doing this…

Mac- this isn't blackmail, Nathan… however… as someone told me once "help breeds help"…

Nathan nodded, recognizing his own words, impressed because he realized Mac was about to ask him something in exchange for the tape… Mac continued talking and went to the point…

Mac- Nathan… I'll give you this tape and no one will ever know ANYTHING about it, that's a big favor I'm doing to you, so… as a thank you… I want you to tell me who gave my resignation letter to Evan Hutchings…

Nathan was surprised, and a little relieved, she could have ask him something a lot worse. But he decided to play with her a little more…

Nathan- What makes you think I know who did that?

Mac shot him a killer look that clearly meant: "do you think I'm stupid?" while saying…

Mac- Nathan… you know…

Nathan laughed… he had to surrender and admit the truth…

Nathan- ok… I admit it… I know who betrayed you…

Mac- and who was it?

Nathan didn't want to spoil the drama so soon… so he looked at her, clearly enjoying knowing something that Mac didn't.

Nathan- why are you so sure I wasn't the one who leaked that letter?

Mac didn't have more patience for games.

Mac- because you have a very bad poker face, Nate! Now, just tell me who was it… and we'll all forget about the video…

Mac was getting nervous and Nathan was so enjoying that… He knew Mac will feel like a complete idiot when she finds out the truth. Video or no video… Nathan now just wanted to tell her only because she would be crush. But he played a little bit more…

Nathan- so… let me see if a got this… if I don't tell you, you will show the world this video… and what if I lie to you? I could do that… you know?

Mac suddenly took the video from his hands.

Mac- oh… I do know that… look, Nathan… if you don't want to tell me what I asked you… nothing will happen, I won't show the tape… but I won't give it to you either… I'll just keep it to "hold it over your head" and you'll spend your entire presidential campaign wondering: "Will this be the day when she makes it public?"

The idea of Mackenzie Allen having something that could use against him whenever she wanted didn't appeal Nathan at all… He had to have that video and destroy it…

Nathan- Ok… I'll tell you who was it…. as a thank you for giving me that tape…

Mac- ok…

Mac was about to hand him the tape… then she took it back and said…

Mac- oh… and if you tell me a lie… all of this goes public… because even without the video, there are six different people who saw it and wouldn't have any problem describing it with plenty of details to the press… I know the story wouldn't be as credibly, but in this town just a mere gossip can become a huge scandal…

Nathan nodded. He had no intention of telling a lie…

Nathan- don't worry about it… I want to tell you the truth… it will hurt you so much more…

Mac wasn't worried… she could take it. She gave Nathan the tape asking seriously…

Mac- Nate, Who sent my resignation letter to Evan Hutchings?

Nathan grinned. This was going to be fun…

Nathan- you are so gonna need a cup for this, girl…

After a dramatic pause, Nathan said…

Nathan- It was Jim Gardner…

**TO BE CONTINUED…..**

**Ok…. everybody saw that one coming… right? Now… how will Mac react? Please…. review! the next chapter will be the last one!**


	3. That's your Chief Of Staff

**Chapter 3: **

**That's your Chief of Staff. **

Mac- Nate, Who sent my resignation letter to Evan Hutchings?

Nathan grinned. This was going to be fun…

Nathan- you are so gonna need a cup for this, girl…

After a dramatic pause, Nathan said…

Nathan- It was Jim Gardner… 

Mac froze… She was speechless… JIM? Jim did it? Jim betrayed her? That couldn't be true… She shook her head in denial as she fought the tears of anger that she felt coming to her eyes…

Mac- no! Jim didn't do it… that can't be true… 

Nathan- Come on! Do you think I would say something like that about JIM if it weren't true?

Mac continued shaking her head, not wanting to take what Nathan was saying…

Mac- it's not true…

Nathan was very upset… why did she ask him in the first place if she wasn't going to believe him?

Nathan- I'm telling you the truth, like you asked! But I shouldn't have! Do you think I wanted to hurt Jim? Do you think I want you to fire him? He is the best ally I got here, for God's sake!

Nathan said that without really thinking… He just spoke his mind. Mac was shocked… Jim was Nathan's ally? She took a sit to process everything…

Mac- oh God… that explains why you always seem to know so much about my moves… oh God… he told you Keaton was my choice for VP… didn't him?

Nathan nodded. He was beginning to feel very sorry for Mac. Suddenly, this situation wasn't so fun for him anymore. He knew what it was like to be betrayed for someone you really trust.

Nathan- He gave information to Jayne, my former Chief of Staff … they had a relationship and he shared information with her…. That's how I know he leaked your letter, he admitted it to her…

Mac was shocked. How could she be so blind? How could she not see what Jim really was?

Mac- If what you are telling me is true…then… why did you fire Jayne? She was useful to you…

Nathan- yes… but she started to fall in love with him and that softened her… She gave my information to him…

Mac nodded. Suddenly everything started making sense… 

Mac- right… that's how Jim knew you were about to expose Vince… and that's how he knew you got the information about him illegally…

Nathan nodded, sympathizing with Mac for the first time, and said sadly…

Nathan- we were both betrayed by them…

Mac wanted to throw up… How could Jim do that to her? He had lied to her straight-faced and without blinking… and why the hell didn't she notice it? She felt like the biggest idiot in the planet, in the whole fucking universe! Oh God… It would be so embarrassing telling Rod! But she had no time to think about all that…. They had to go to the dinner room and have thanksgiving dinner. Putting her self together, she said…

Mac- There are people waiting for us, Mr. Speaker… we have to go… 

Nathan nodded and escorted her to the dinner room.

Later that night. Inside the Presidential bedroom… 

During the entire dinner Mac had pretended that nothing was wrong and everybody could enjoy a lovely thanksgiving dinner. That night, she and Rod were going to bed… She came out her bathroom, and noticed that Rod was really anxious. He finally asked her the question he had been holding all night…

Rod- so… what happened? Did he tell you?

Mac nodded sadly… and closed her eyes for a few seconds.

Mac- yes… he did…

Rod- then… who was it?

Everything came back to Mac and her eyes filled with tears… how could she be so stupid?

Mac- It was Jim… you were right… it's always been Jim… 

Mac was full with anger and impotence…. Rod was speechless, shocked… Yes, he had imagined it was Jim… but now that they knew it for certain he couldn't really believe it. He couldn't said a word… Mac suddenly couldn't take it anymore… She could picture in her head Rod being happy because he was right, and she was sure he was about to say things like "you are such an idiot…" "I told you so!" "I knew it all the time", "you should have listened to me"… Before Rod could say something, Mac yelled…

Mac- DON'T SAY ANYTHING! Just…. Just… Don't say anything!

She suddenly hit the wall that was closer to her really hard yelling…

Mac-DAM IT!

She exploded in tears. Rod had rarely (if never) seen her so angry and so frustrated. He came closer to her and held her tight.

**The next day… early in the morning. Oval Office. **

Jim was unaware that Mac knew everything. He just entered in the Oval Office to have what he thought would be a regular President/Chief Of Staff meeting. He entered and saw Mac behind her desk as usual…

Jim- good morning, Ma'am President.

Mac, with an unreadable expression, said… 

Mac- Good morning Jim…

Jim asked, in a regular tone… 

Jim- so… Did you give Nathan Templeton the tape, after all?

Mac- oh, yes. I definitely did that…

Jim noticed that there was something weird about her… something was different in her look, in her face… Mac suddenly stood up and looked through the window of the Oval Office lost in her thoughts. Jim was beginning to freak out.

Jim- Madame President, are you ok?

Mac turned around to face him… Then she said, pointing at her chair behind her desk…

Mac- I was sit right there… 

Jim was confused. What was that about?

Jim- I beg your pardon?

Mac walked towards her desk, and stood in front of it and continued talking.

Mac- and you were standing right here. I was sit behind my desk and you were standing right here… I asked you, directly, if you were the source of the leaks… I asked you, looking at you eyes, if you told Evan Hutchings that Teddy had asked me to step down…

Jim suddenly got everything. She knew. He was about to explain him self and try to apologize. But Mac didn't let him, and continued talking…

Mac- I asked you that direct question and you told me: "No, and if you believe that I did, then we've got a problem." Later that night, I was working in my private study and you brought me your resignation letter… you said that it had been your honor to serve me, and then you told me that Teddy him self leaked most of the information because he felt I was a threat to his legacy, you also said that you thought I was his legacy. Jim… those conversations really happened right? I didn't imagine all that… I'm not crazy…

Jim was ashamed of him self and rushed to say…

Jim- no, you are not…

Mac ignored him and went on… 

Mac- I mean, I must be crazy, since I kept YOU as my Chief of Staff in the first place… but I'm not dangerously insane… I'm not completely delusional… those conversations I've just described really happened, right? I'm not imagining things…

Jim felt the urge to explain him self… and this time Mac simply listened…

Jim- Madame President, I have not excuses. What I did was wrong, I know is unforgivable… and this will not mean anything to you… but I do regret what I did. When I found your letter, I was very sad because of President Bridges's dead… and I was devastated because that great man's last wish was being ignored. I didn't know you too well back them… all I knew about you was what Teddy told me… so I didn't wanted you to be president. But then I truly got to know you… and you turned out to be a great President and a great woman. I realized how mistaken Teddy had been… but It was too late to un-do what I had done.

Mac listened those words but she didn't let herself feel affected by them. She wasn't angry with her self anymore, she was just sad, hurt and betrayed. She put herself together and said firmly in Presidential mode…

Mac- you are relieved of your duties, Mr. Gardner. You are not longer part of the Allen administration.

Jim knew it was over. He was fired. He was devastated but he knew he deserved it.

**Very late at night. Oval Office. **

Mac was walking around the Oval Office with bare feet. She liked felling the carpet in her skin while she meditated. There was nobody else in The West Wing since the workday was over. She walked around with her eyes close (she knew the Oval by heart and didn't need to see) and thought about Teddy Bridges, and about what Jim did… Jim was so loyal to Teddy… He loved him as a brother and trusted him completely like Teddy trusted him. Those two man where best friends… She needed that kind of relationship with whoever replaced Jim. She remember an advice Teddy told her once, and advice she should have followed when she became President.

_FLASBACK - Two years and a half before… _

_Theodore Roosevelt Bridges had just become President of the United States and Mackenzie Spencer Allen had become his Vice President. It was their first day in their respective jobs. Mac was in her office when she was suddenly was surprised by Teddy, who entered. She stood up immediately. _

_Mac- Good morning, Mr. President. _

_He smiled. He liked being called that. _

_Teddy- it's ok… you can sit… listen, I heard you are organizing your staff… _

_Mac smiled nicely and nodded… _

_Mac- you are right boss… first things first. I need a good team to get right on business… _

_Teddy nodded thoughtfully and said… _

_Teddy- Tell me something… do you have a male best friend? _

_Mac was very surprised, that was not at all the question she expected. But even when she didn't understand the point of that question, she thought about it. She didn't have a male best friend since Mike Stanton, and she hadn't seen him in years. She was about to answer "no", but she changed her mind…. because her husband Rod could definitely be counted as her current best friend. He was the best friend she had now. Thinking about Rod, she smiled and said… _

_Mac- Yes, I do. _

_Teddy- and is he smarter than you? _

_Mac thought so. She nodded saying…_

_Mac- Yes. Definitely. _

_Teddy- and… can you trust him blindly? _

_Mac- I'd trust him with my life… _

_Teddy smiled, seeming satisfied with that answer… Mac was still confused, not knowing the reason of those questions… until Teddy said… _

_Teddy- then… that's your Chief of Staff. _

Back in the present…

Mac continued walking around the Oval. Two years and a half ago she had taken Teddy's advice. As Vice President, she had chosen as Chief Of Staff the person who was her best friend, smarter than her and who she could trust with her life. She wished she had done the same as President. At that moment, Rod entered in the Oval, worried…

Rod- honey, are you ok? It's incredibly late… everybody else left…

Mac looked at Rod. She had made a mistake when she became President, but she would definitely correct it… She smiled genuinely at him and said…

Mac- yeah… I'll be all right.

**The end… **

So…. what do you think? Did you like this ending? Please… send me some reviews! I love them so much.


End file.
